Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6), because faith is the ladder that brings answer to prayers from the realm of the unseen. All answers to prayers are not delivered to the physical realm, but rather to the spirit realm. They only manifest in the physical realm. You must be able to access the spirit realm therefore, in order to collect answers to your prayers and bring into to the physical realm for manifestation, and without a ladder, you cannot climb up to the spirit realm to do so. The ladder is your faith. You need faith to be able to receive the promises of God and answers to your prayers.

This means, even when God has answered your prayers and by His own assessment, He has delivered to you your request, but to you, you are yet to get the answer. It means that you are looking at the wrong place for answer to your prayers. The answer is not in the physical realm, it is in the spirit realm and God expects you to take the ladder and go pick them up from there and then manifest them in the physical. Everything of the Kingdom is accessed by faith and manifested by action.

The same with the words of your mouth. When you pray for solution and yet confess the problem, you have cancelled your prayers. Your mouth and confession must be full of faith-filled words as regards your prayers, otherwise, you get nothing. Faith-filled words fulfill the law of life and fear-filled words fulfills the law of sin and death. Paul said “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.8:2). Therefore, you must be aware and conscious of the fact that there is tremendous power in your confession. God respects the confession of your lips whether positive or negative. Let faith-filled words full your mouth at all times, even in the face of negative situations and circumstances. Never confess negative: negative confession fulfils the law of death.

Faith does not however, deny reality, but only speak what we want to see over what is seen (Rom.4:17). It is calling out things into manifestation (i.e. to the physical realm) from the realm of the spirit. Calling things to be, creating things and making them appear. The world is formed and created by the spoken word and it is maintained by same. Jesus called life out of dead Lazarus (Jn.11:43). Ezekiel spoke life to dead bones and they lived again (Ez.37:4).

POSITIVE CONFESSION
However, Faith-filled words is different from Positive Confession which is nothing but Mind Control, a soulish way of achieving things without God, using the innate and latent power of the soul. This is the type that Nimrod used in building the Tower of Babel when he co-opted people into building a tower that reaches to God. ‘And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do’ (Gen.11:9).

Positive Confession is using the power of imagination to create and there is absolutely nothing imagination cannot do, but it is using the innate power to do it, whether good or bad. It is an ambitious, selfish and personal way of achieving our desire by-passing God. It works, and even, faster; because it is soulish! God Himself said, ‘nothing will be restrained from them, which they have IMAGINED to do’, yet it was not of God. It has to do with imagination of the heart; good or bad; forming things by soul power, and then, lacing it with confession.

It is possible to imagine evil and confess it and it will come to pass. Positive confession is always ‘positive’, even, when used for negative intent. It is ‘positive’ because it is what the person desires. A witch will confess positive of her evil spell towards someone. When the spell succeeds, to her, it is positive, but we know it is negative. So, positive confession can bring negative result. A person that uses a manipulative power of charm for instance uses it to destroy his victim with a positive mind that it will work, but work evil.

Through usage, one becomes so skilled in it that nothing imagined will not, but come to pass; whether good or evil. You can ‘confess’ somebody dead and he will be dead because it is soul power. The tree is the knowledge of good AND evil, not good OR evil. Unfortunately, you can’t use the good and leave the evil; they go together!

There are many books out there, purportedly written by Christian Authors who are more of motivational speakers than Gospel preachers and teach people how to use power of imagination, persistence, confession, visualization and materialization to get phenomena result and it works. It must be understood that such books enjoy readership of all religions because they are basically not spiritual but soulish books that teaches how to use soul power to get result without Christ. Some teachers of such are very sincere, though, but we can be sincerely wrong and teach people so. Eve was also sincere. She knew the tree very well, but, perhaps, she thought she could eat the good part (Positive) and leave the evil part since it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they are inseparable: it leads to death! ‘There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Prov.16:25)! ‘The day thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die’!

Eve was deceived by the result just like many today: ‘it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, a tree to be desired, to make one wise’. It takes the Holy Spirit not to be deceived.

Consequently, so many books that were never Christian books, but teach on how to win friends, people, clients, etc, just by a trick or formula are being accepted, sold as Christian books and are used by pastors in building membership and church growth. Although they are not Christian books, but bring result. They call such faith books, but Jesus is not there; it’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You cannot take the ‘good’ and leave the ‘evil’ in the tree. Remember the tree is not just tree of good and evil, but tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. It is about the KNOWLEDGE, principles, strategies, formulas. Esoteric students or those delving into metaphysics or social life find such very handy. Tragically, many Bible scholars and students are finding such books beneficial, but it must be known that they are not spiritual books because they are not spirit inspired but soul inspired. The Holy Spirit works by revelation, not formulas.

Such books are bestsellers because you don’t need Christ or the Holy Spirit before you achieve result as long as you adhere to principles. Unfortunately, such books have become the favorites or collection of many preachers today and they recommend same to their congregations. It has turned many preachers into ‘motivational speakers’; delving into people’s soul with quotable quotes, philosophical words, rhetoric and incising words that energizes peoples soul, bringing them to their toes for actions. Watch it: they truly have magical power of transformation, but must not be equated with the Gospel of Jesus, regardless of whether such speakers quote the Scriptures or not. They quote anything relevant, whether words of Jesus, Hitler and even anti-christ’s.

One of the characteristic of such messages is that they bring quick result. Remember, God had to personally come down, ‘and there confound their language, (at the tower of Babel) that they may not understand one another's speech. So, the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city’ (Gen.11;9). That is the fruit of Positive Confession / Thinking. Remember, Adam and Eve too was sent out of the garden.

Do you also remember the Positive Confession of Satan: ‘…I WILL ascend into heaven, I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God: I WILL sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL be like the most High’ Is.14:13. He was thrown out of heaven, but not without achieving result, as a third of the angels were already deceived and were in his camp. Who says positive confession does not bring result? It does, but it is soulish, it is the will of man and the will of man is capable of doing great and mighty things, but the question is, is it of God?

FAITH CONFESSION

While Positive confession is confessing your own will, desire and vision, Faith confession however, is confessing the will of God and trusting that He will do what He has promised to do. With five ‘I WILL’s, Satan desired to be like God, but Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane said, ‘NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE’! (Mat.26:42). That is the difference. One is of the Soul, the other, of the Spirit.

Satan reinforced his will and God sent him away from heaven. But with Jesus submitting His will to God, myriads of Angels ministered to Him to strengthen Him. It is not about what we want; it’s about what He wants for us. Once we know what He wants for us, we can then confess it. It is different from what we want for ourselves, which may not be what God wants for us, but we confess it anyway. It’s not about us, it’s about Him. John the Baptist said: I must decrease and he must increase (Jn.3:30)!

Know that the will of an average man is self-centered, selfish and self-glorifying. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it’ (Jer.17:9). James said ‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts’ (Jas.4:3). Our motive is ‘self’, to satisfy ‘us’, our ‘self’, sensual desires and pleasures. Everything has to be to our own benefit and advantage, but the reverse is the case when we submit to the Holy Spirit because He glorifies the Father. That is why Paul said “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

(Rom 8:26-27). It is then we can pray like Jesus: ‘not my will, but your will be done’!

Faith confesses the WORD OF GOD over negative situations. It asserts and affirms the will, promises and plans of God over contrary and conflicting circumstances. It is believing what God says over what obtains. It is not what we want, but what He desires. It is only then that we can faith-confess it, otherwise, it is positive confession, which is soulish! Faith Confession is of the Spirit (God is Spirit).

GOD’S EXAMPLE
“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen.1:1-3). The earth that God created had four characteristics; three were negative while only one was positive:

(1) without form
(2) was void
(3) darkness was upon the face of the deep,
(4) the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

This easily could have been called a ‘failure’. A whole God, scoring only one point out of four. But God did not just sit down somewhere, bemoaning His fate. He moved swiftly to the situation because He knew He was in control by His attitude. Our attitude determines our altitude. What we faith-confess is what we posses by faith. We are what we say we are, good or bad. We can not be better or worse. God respects our confession because Jesus is the high Priest of our confession (Heb.4:14), presenting to the father our confession and ensuring that it is done, once it is confessed in His name (Jn.15:16;16:23).

God opened His mouth and spoke what He wanted to see over what He was seeing: He spoke forth and said ‘let there be light’ and immediately there was light. He did not confess the negatives that he saw. He did not complain. He did not pray the problem, He prayed the solution. The solution is light and he spoke let there be light.

At the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus did not just stay there to cry with the mourners, he moved away to Lazarus and called out the living among the dead, even though, he had been dead four days and was already buried and stinking. Faith does not see death, it sees life and calls out what he sees, not what obtains.

Don’t just weep and cry over your situation when there is a miracle in your mouth you can use. Don’t stay with mourners, move to where the miracle is. It’s OK t cry and express emotions, but emotions do not deliver, it is faith that does. Don’t let the sense of mourning becloud your sense of miracles.

There are times we spend hours praying, but our prayer is more of a complaint than a command; fear and not faith. We pray the problem and not the solution, like Hannah did year after year, describing how big the problem is and what havoc it has done and what further havoc it has the potential of doing. We then begin to cry and call God to come down and help us, when He already did and waiting for us to use the authority and glorify him.

Some people ask God to tear the heaven and fight for them. Consider this word of Jesus to His disciples in John 16:26: “At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you”. It is noto Jesus that will beg the father to do it for you, but Jesus will present your confession to the Father to do it. But what if you have no confession and the only thing you have is to beg Jesus to do it for you? The miracle is in YOUR mouth, no longer in the mouth of Jesus. He has given it to you”. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach” (Rom.10:8).

Stop ‘begging’ God to come and pray for you or to come and address the situation. You do it. Often Jesus would ask; “what shall I do for you”, even when the problem of the person is clear to Jesus like the Blind Bartemeus. Jesus “ What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way” (Mar 10:51-52).

Jesus is asking us the same question, but often time, instead of replying like the blind Bartemeus with a definite reply of what we want, we reply like the man at the pool of Bethsaida, who rather than telling Jesus what he wanted was giving him excuse why he was failing: “The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me” (Joh 5:7). God will not do for you again, what he had already completed. He said “it is finished”. “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”. (Mar 16:17-18)

It is time to go to the word and see what the word says. Hannah must have been telling God how Penninah used to victimize her and how people call her barren. She never prayed the word. She never prayed the solution. The Bible says there shall not be anyone barren in your midst. She did not return God’s work back to Him. God said His words that have gone out of His mouth will never return unto Him void until it has prospered in that which He pleases. Heaven and earth may pass away, but My Words will not pass without being fulfilled. The miracle is no longer in heaven, but in your mouth (Pro.12:14). You are entirely snared (taking captive) by your confession (Pro. 6:2.) Your life and your death is in your tongue (Pro.18:21).

If it took God to speak word of faith to His situation, it will take you no less. Don’t cry over your situation, God does not watch over your tears, but over His words in your mouth to perform it (Ez.12:25, Jer.1:12). He is not an emotional God, but a God of covenant and will not break His covenant (Ps.89:34).

Speak what the word says you are not what the world says you are. Believe in the Lord’s report (Is.37:6-7), not the doctor’s report or others. See God in your situation and circumstances not the devil. Look beyond it. When Peter began to look at the water around him, he began to sink, but as long as he looked at Jesus, he was walking on it (Mt. 14:28-31). See the bigness of God not the bigness of your problem. Address your mountain, don’t dress them. Climb it, don’t sleep on it. It’s a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. Talk to your mountain, don’t run from it (Mt.17:20). God moves on the wings of your confession. Without it, He is powerless!

Confess life and you live. Confess death and you die. Call light to your darkness. Let the weak say I am strong and the poor say I am rich (Joel 3:10). Always pray the solution, not the problem. Remember, they over came by the blood of the lamb and the words of their testimony (Rev.12:11). Even the devil will flee, when you resist Him (Jas.4:7). Let the Word of Faith fill your mouth, it fulfills the law of life.